TRW to Lay Off Up to 3,000 Workers at Its Space Unit

TRW notified employees Monday that it will lay off up to 3,000 employees, or 10% of its Space & Defense Sector work force, over the next several months, due to broad cutbacks on secret military programs.

The aerospace firm, one of the nation’s largest military spacecraft manufacturers, has already frozen hiring at its Space Park facility in Redondo Beach and withdrawn job offers that have not yet been accepted by prospective employees, according to a memo signed by TRW Executive Vice President E. D. Dunford.

“Because of security restrictions, I cannot discuss some details of what we know at this time regarding program stretchouts or terminations,” the Dunford memo said. “Even though final decisions have not been made on certain classified programs, we believe the most severe personnel reduction possible would be 10% of our 30,000 employment base in the coming months.”

Separately, aerospace headhunters report hearing that a number of TRW employees have already been notified that they will be laid off. A TRW spokesman said he did not have information on any employees actually laid off as of Monday.

News about the possible layoffs first was reported late last week in a Times story, which indicated that some TRW employees received notifications from managers that potentially 3,000 layoffs were looming. A TRW spokeswoman said that only in the worst case would 3,000 employees lose their jobs, an estimate that was put together only in recent days.

TRW employees and aerospace headhunters in the Los Angeles area, said all indications suggest that the principal cause of the layoffs is cancellation of a secret military satellite program.

“We have already gotten calls from people, both technical and professional, who have already been notified that they are being laid off,” said Sanford Lechtick, chief executive at National Recruiters in Woodland Hills. “TRW has always been a rock solid, stable company. That’s why this is such a shock to people. This is a real jolt to TRW employees.”

The Dunford memo said, “it is important that everyone understand the environment and situation we now face.”

Cutbacks Unexpected

The cutbacks appear sudden and unexpected. Lechtick said he learned of one woman who was recruited from another South Bay aerospace contractor only weeks before she was notified of her layoff.

John Pike, an expert in classified military space programs at the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists, said the layoffs appear to indicate that the Air Force has terminated the KH-12 satellite program, in which TRW is believed to be a major subcontractor to Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. in Sunnyvale.

The KH-12 is a huge photo reconnaissance satellite, weighing as much as 40,000 pounds, which would circle the Earth in low orbit and obtain high detail intelligence photographs, Pike said.

The termination appears to be related to the grounding of the space shuttle system and the mothballing of the Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site for the shuttle. The KH-12, which would circle the Earth in a polar orbit, was designed to be refueled in flight by shuttles launched from Vandenberg, he said.

Launch Site Mothballed

But since the Vandenberg launch site was mothballed following the Challenger disaster, the possibility of inflight refueling of the KH-12 has been ruled out, he said. As a result, he believes that the Air Force has decided to stop the KH-12 program after only four satellites and to instead develop a new successor to the long series of photo satellites, which are code named KH or “Key Hole.”

If Pike is correct about the source of the TRW cutbacks, then it would follow that Lockheed would also have layoffs once its work on the KH-12 program is completed. Pike said Lockheed, as prime contractor, would be about one year behind TRW on such employment action.

A Lockheed spokesman at Sunnyvale, Calif., said the company is not laying off any workers and expects employment to be stable for at least the next six months.

But the Dunford memo appears to suggest that more than one secret program is causing the work force cutbacks. Indeed, TRW has a role in a number of secret satellite programs and other large defense projects involving the “Star Wars” system, land-based nuclear missiles and all sorts of communications systems.

Doubts Program Cancellation

TRW is the producer of the Magnum series of satellites, which are designed to intercept telephone and radio transmissions, according to various published accounts such as the “Puzzle Palace” by James Bamford.

But Pike said he doubts the military would cancel the Magnum program or any of the other major satellite programs, which include the Fleet Satellite Communications System, the early warning Defense Special Projects Satellite or the Milstar communications satellite.

In addition, TRW builds a number of smaller scientific and communications satellites for NASA. TRW was recently dropped from an experimental communications satellite program for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but it was not considered a major loss.